SEARCHING FOR IDENTITY IN FEMALE CHARACTERS IN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDIES

Abstract

This paper explores the complex questions of identity in female characters in William Shakespeare’s comedies, focusing on As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and The Taming of the Shrew. Through an analysis of transformation, disguise, and resistance to patriarchal structures, the study reveals how female characters actively construct their identities, often disrupting dominant gender hierarchies. The research applies feminist and psychoanalytic criticism to analyze the roles of gender, performance, and language in the process of identification and self-discovery, positioning these characters as agents of their own liberation. Focusing on Rosalind in As You Like It, Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew, and Viola in Twelfth Night, it argues that Shakespeare crafts their identities through linguistic performance, ambiguity, and rhetorical control. These women subvert conventional gender norms not just through disguise or defiance, but through speech acts that constitute identity. The essay adopts a feminist and performative framework, particularly Judith Butler’s concept of performativity, to analyze how language enables these characters to negotiate, redefine, and assert their subjectivities in a patriarchal context.